In case you haven’t checked your pocket schedule lately, the Mariners would be in New York facing the Yankees this weekend, more than 50 games into their 2020 season.

After more than 60 days of inactivity, the locked doors of the Mariners’ spring training complex in Peoria, Arizona will re-open to a limited number of players and staff.

For ultra-early risers, very-late night owls and insomniacs, or specifically baseball-starved fans craving a Major League Baseball season that came achingly close to starting, there was an oasis of live sports relief last week during the hours most people are asleep. After a delay due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Korean Baseball Organization started its 2020 season last Monday. In the search for programming while leagues in the United States are shut down, ESPN worked out a deal to broadcast six live KBO games per week, with an English broadcast done by announcers in the U.S.

Major League Baseball is reportedly considering a plan of restarting spring training in early June with the season starting in early July.

Not long ago, a friend called former Mariner Ken Phelps to tell him that Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout game in 1986 was being shown on one of the cable networks.

During the endless days of spring training, or even the slogging grind of the regular season, trying to get Tim Laker for an interview is almost impossible. Heck, locating him is difficult.

The boredom and isolated monotony that comes with social distancing? That’s nothing for Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzales after he recently traversed U.S. Route 93, a seemingly endless stretch of two-lane, truck-filled highway through central and northern Nevada that’s part of the drive home to Seattle from spring training in Arizona.

In a 364-page history of American baseball stadiums published last year titled “Ballpark: Baseball in the American City,” author Paul Goldberger makes two references to the Kingdome.

Under different circumstances, Rick Rizzs would have been bubbling with enthusiasm Thursday – turned up to an even higher boil than normal from a man who thrives on undisguised zeal.

Even with Major League Baseball shut down and spring-training sites devoid of players or activity, teams can still make roster moves, cutting players from spring training and re-assigning them or optioning them to minor-league teams.

The Seattle Mariners have shut down their spring training facility in Arizona because of the virus outbreakand told their players to view the coming weeks as though they’re in offseason mode.